More “Everyone Is Saved” Heresy From the ELCA

5/15/2015

The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook (here) and twitter (here.)

The ELCA's official website has an "Ask the Pastor" blog where people can ask ELCA pastors a question. The most recent is called "Eternal Life for Everyone?" The question is whether the ELCA will line up with the heresy of universalism (that everyone is saved, whether one believes in Christ or not).

In part, here is how Pastor Monica answered:

...there are many who seek to bring salvation to people by way of threatening eternal damnation. It’s a fear tactic. ...God does not destroy the earth while saving a select few. This is not the God who sent his only Son not to condemn but to save. Again not just a few – but the whole world! ...Will we be judged? Yes. Where will we spend eternity? I trust the God of love who first loved us in Christ Jesus.

So, catch that, the whole world goes to heaven according to her.

Here in part is Pastor's David's response to the same question:

...The question is whether only the righteous will be resurrected, or will both the righteous and the wicked be resurrected at Christ’s return? And on that question, many very intelligent and faithful people (much smarter than I) have written at length and disagreed....At the end of the day, the answer resides in God’s control and not in mine. My trust is in God’s grace, and my hope is in the resurrected Jesus Christ. I will let myself be satisfied with the mystery, and know that all will be clear when God makes it so.

So, one pastor says all will be saved, the other says says it is a mystery. The Bible teaches differently. There will definitely be a resurrection of the just and unjust. The Old Testament teaches this (Daniel 12:2) as does Jesus Himself (John 5:29). And the verses where Jesus talks about the reality of Hell are numerous (see, for instance, Matthew 25:46 where Jesus talks about eternal punishment). And, yes, faith is Christ is necessary for salvation (Acts 16:31, Romans 3:26).

Is it any wonder that the number of missionaries in the ELCA has gone down since its founding in 1988? If everyone is saved, lets bring the missionaries home.

In Jesus our Savior,

Pastor Tom Brock

9 Comments

Didaskalos link

5/15/2015 10:20:40 pm

Universalism, relativism, and solipsism are definitely ascendant in mainline Protestantism. A respondent to a PCUSA pastor's blog post on the Patheos "progressive Christian" site writes:

"How we interpret the scriptures defines our Christianity. There are many which contradict each other, and/or are used to justify contradictory theological positions. Do 90% of all humans end up eternally tormented in Hell, or do we have a loving God who overcomes everyone's resistance in the end? There are scriptures used to support both positions."

Kathy S.

5/17/2015 03:57:07 am

Could you explain, Didaskalos, how your position is any different from the liberal Protestants. You both read the Scripture, you both interpret it for yourselves, and you both come to your own conclusions. What am I not seeing?

5/17/2015 07:10:57 am

I think Scripture interprets Scripture; interpretation is also buttressed by the historic, faithful Christian Church; the present, faithful Christian Church; and the individual born-again believer in Jesus Christ.

The Bible says, “In an abundance of counselors, there is safety.” If I want assistance in interpreting the Bible, I’m going to start with the early Church. I’m going to read about the Council of Nicea and early credal statements. I’m going to read Irenaeus and Athanasius and Augustine and Aquinas and Martin Luther. And I’ll read contemporary theologians: Francis Schaeffer, Alvin Plantinga, Norman Geisler, William Lane Craig, R. C. Sproul, Al Mohler, and others, from a variety of Christian traditions: Catholic, Lutheran, Orthodox, Reformed. No one church or denomination possesses the whole counsel of God.

But it’s MOST important for me to immerse myself in God’s Word a lot, being willing to follow the Bible’s admonitions and heed its declarations of its own veracity and authority over me: "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” "I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

And as I spend serious time in God’s Word, I need to ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance as I do so. Take one example, the Virgin Birth.

In my study of the Bible, I see Old Testament prophecies about the Virgin Birth of the Messiah. Then I read Gabriel’s words to Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come on you. The power of the Most High will cover you. The holy Child you give birth to will be called the Son of God.” Then I read in Matthew 1: "Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.”

So then if leaders, pastors, and seminary professors in a "progressive" denomination — oh, let’s say a certain Lutheran one — say the Virgin Birth is old-wives-tales mythology, I need to “Test everything. Hold fast to that which is good.” A straightforward semantic interpretation of the Bible indicates at first glance that something’s wrong with a church’s repudiation of the Virgin Birth. And when I follow up with past and present defenders and teachers of the faith, I find that my denomination is out-and-out heretical. If I don’t have a Savior who’s virgin-born deity, I don’t have a Savior. Time to bail out of that heretical denomination.

For another example, take the sin of homosexuality. Everywhere the Bible mentions homosexual sex, it's condemned as unnatural and sinful. Moreover, those who willfully and impenitently persist in that sin will not, as Paul plainly says in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, enter the kingdom of God. Historic Christian teaching -- including Martin Luther -- has affirmed the Bible's teaching that homosexual sex is sinful. Along comes the ELCA to say homosexual sex and "marriage" are OK. Whom will I believe? The Bible and its affirmation in historic Christian teaching.

D. A. Waite writes in his commentary on Ephesians: "When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context, studies in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise. God in revealing His Word neither intends nor permits the reader to be confused. He wants His children to understand."

Jacob Ambos

5/16/2015 02:11:23 am

"God does not destroy the earth while saving a select few"? What about Genesis 6-9? Oh, right, "it never really happened." So glad we can decide what kind of God He is on our own, and each have our own individual God. Why not just make an idol while you're at it?

5/18/2015 03:06:19 am

Didaskalos --

If Scripture interprets Scripture, then why so many interpretations? Isn't that just another way of saying: "I will interpret Scripture for myself, with the help of certain persons I choose"? The Scripture is a collection of writings that was gathered together at one time in history and pronounced "canon" by the Catholic Church. The Scripture comes from the Church. If we are to have Christian unity, then the Church must interpret Scripture for the Church -- otherwise there is the situation which we observe today. Of course, we as individuals can and must read the Scripture for our own spiritual life and growth. No one person or church has ALL the truth, but Christ has given to his Church the fullness the truth and the promise of the protection of his Church.

Didaskalos

5/18/2015 04:35:09 am

The Bible says of itself that Scripture is the final authority and determiner of the Faith and that, moreover, all Scripture comes from God. "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” "For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

When you say "the Church must interpret Scripture for the Church," do you mean only one church denomination (e.g., the Catholic Church) has a God-granted determinative authority to interpret Scripture for all Christians? Such an interpretation wouldn't square with this Biblical admonition: "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

5/19/2015 03:58:16 am

Didaskalos --

I am certain that this is nothing more than a misunderstanding. We are talking past each other because we are mixing levels in the spiritual life.

You say: "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” Yes, of course, but this is on a personal level. If I see a priest doing something wrong, I must report it otherwise I am not "handling the word of truth" well. If I see an abuse in the Church, as Luther did, I have the responsibility to try to correct it.

What I must NOT do is break the unity of the Church. That would be contrary to Scripture. John 17:21 "That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." On the level of the Church (not the personal level) to break the unity of the Church is contrary to Scripture -- and contrary to the Will of Christ.

5/19/2015 10:50:54 am

Kathy, I believe the primary and best unity all born-again believers have is the unity of the Spirit: “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with the Lord.” Our unity isn’t dependent on our having exactly the same interpretations of the Bible (e.g., infant vs. adult baptism), but I think confessional Catholics and Lutherans would agree, Kathy, that these are vital, foundational, necessary-to-believe truths of the Christian faith:

We believe that there is one God eternally existing in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (Deuteronomy 6:4; I Timothy 1:17; Matthew 28:19)
We believe the Bible is God's written revelation to mankind and is verbally inspired, authoritative, and without error. (II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:20-21)
We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, death on the cross to provide for our redemption, bodily resurrection and ascension into heaven, present ministry of intercession for us, and His future return to earth in power and glory. (Philippians 2:6-8; Matthew 1:18-25; Hebrews 4:15; John 20:30-31; Romans 5:1-12; Acts 1:9-11)
We believe in the present ministry and deity of the Holy Spirit, that He performs the miracle of new birth in an unbeliever and indwells believers, enabling them to live a godly life of effective service. (John 14:16-17; Galatians 5:22-25)
We believe that mankind was created in the image of God, but, because of sin, was alienated from God. That alienation can be removed only by receiving, through faith alone, God's plan for salvation, which includes repentance and confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. (Romans 3:23; Romans 10:9-10; I John 1:9)
We believe in the resurrection of all the dead: the saved to eternal life dwelling forever with Christ, and the unsaved to everlasting judgment and condemnation. (John 5:24-29; Revelation 20:12-15)
We believe that the church on earth is a spiritual unity made up of all Christians. (I Corinthians 12:12-13)

When a denomination starts caviling about — or outright denying — bedrock tenets of the Faith, as the ELCA presently is doing, then the confessing Church that holds to those truths cannot be said to have unity with a denomination that’s abandoned them.

For all of us believers, God’s Word has primacy — over our individual denominations, as the main subject of our study, and as the arbiter for our lives. Paul wrote, "And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” Acts 20:32

One commentator writes about that passage: "No less beautiful are the words which follow ["And Now I commend you to God"]: "And to the word of his grace." He [Paul] was thinking of the grievous wolves, and of their pernicious doctrine; of the deceivers that should arise, and their soul-destroying heresies; and so he turns to the one source of safety 'the Word of God's grace in Jesus Christ.' If they are kept in that Word of truth, if they nourish their souls with that sincere milk, they will be safe. The gospel which he had preached would be their safety unto the end. It would build them up on the one Foundation which never can be moved; it would preserve them holy to take possession of the inheritance of the saints in light.’

George

5/19/2015 12:24:27 pm

In the Biblical passages that are referenced from 1 John, God in Christ loved us first because the writer of 1 John was talking about those who are of the family of faith. It is not a reference to the world in general. Yes, from God's side God so loved the world. But from the perspective of the person, that love must be received by faith. God may love the whole world but that doesn't mean that all will be saved. "God so loved the world that he gave...so that WHOEVER believes..." Each person in the world is addressed by God with this message. But each person must walk the path of faith for him/herself for salvation to be effective in their life.

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.

More “Everyone Is Saved” Heresy From the ELCA

Leave a Reply.

Dan Skogen

Categories

Archives

Home

Share

Exposed Blog

HELP

Contact